NEWS AND EVENTS

25 - 27 June 2002

Report of the Regional Consultation on Capacity Building for Integrated Environmental Risk Assessment and Management (IERAM) in Eastern Africa Focusing on Drought Induced Famine and HIV/AIDS

SUMMARY

I. INTRODUCTION

• The Regional Consultation on Capacity Building for Integrated Environmental Risk Assessment and Management (IERAM) in Eastern Africa, convened by the Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability (PAES) with the financial support of the World Bank, was held at the Hotel International Muyenga, Kampala, Uganda 25 - 27 June 2002.
• The objectives of the Regional Consultation were: (i) Provide a forum for sharing experiences and knowledge in the assessment and management of environmental risks; (ii) Develop a functional and common understanding of environmental risk assessment as a strategic planning tool for sustainable development; (iii) Discuss approaches and frameworks that help develop capacity at the institutional and individual levels for integrating the main sources of environmental risks, in particular HIV/AIDS, into the environmental assessment and development processes through utilizing IERAM tools.
• Twenty-six senior experts drawn from various disciplines from Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa, selected in their personal capacities, as well as from the Drought Monitoring Centre (Nairobi), World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme congregated at the Regional Consultation.

Conclusion of the Workshop

• The Regional Consultation upholds the Pamodzi Statement both in spirit and substance and calls upon governments, non-governmental organization, private sector as well as multilateral and bilateral funding agencies to support the implementation of the Pamodzi Statement.
• The Regional Consultation concluded that IERAM encompasses a set of relevant and applicable tools for assessing environmental risks that the region currently faces including those risks arising from natural and man made disasters and also health risks arising from HIV/AIDS, malaria and other communicable diseases.
• There is limited awareness and understanding of IERAM in the region. There is, thus, a need to promote cross-sectoral awareness and enhance the dialogue among environmental managers, finance, economic development and health specialists on the benefits of IERAM as a tool for well-informed decision-making.
• Participants agreed on a common definition of integrated environmental risk assessment and management that it involves identifying the probability of harm/damage occurring from biophysical change and risks/threats to biodiversity arising from human activity or development. It also involves the formulation and implementation of a strategy for accepting or mitigating identified risks based usually on cost-benefit analysis.
• Public participation and communication are vital for successful application of IERAM. Effective environmental risk communication requires a mixture of mass and selective communication strategies that require the involvement of the media right from the early stages of IERAM processes.
• Participants concluded that environmental risk assessment (ERA), albeit has broader scope, complements and enhances the rigour of both environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and countries need to build capacities in all the three areas, but in an integrated manner. IERAM activities should thus build upon and make best use of networks and organizations, tools and procedures already established and made operational.
• In this regard, participants expressed their full support to the call made by the Hon. Minister of Water, Lands and Environment of the Republic of Uganda to "the World Bank and other development partners to continue to expand their support to the building of capacity for integrated environmental risk assessment and management, side by side with the massive efforts it is making in the area of capacity building for EIA."
• The Regional Consultation noted that considerable experience and expertise exists in the sub-region that can easily be harnessed to refine, adapt and adopt integrated environmental risk assessment and management as a decision making tool for the attainment of sustainable development.
• The Consultation appreciated the work done by Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability (PAES) and the World Bank-Africa Region in organizing such an engaging regional consultation and urged that the momentum be continued.

The Muyenga Recommendations:

• The generic framework for environmental risk assessment presented at the Consultation needs to be further refined and be developed into a common framework and methodology for IERAM in Eastern Africa with the view to positioning it to addressing issues and risk concerns of the region.
• Efforts should be made to come up with tools, procedures and manuals for applying IERAM at country level, with initial efforts focusing on improving, adapting and adopting the generic framework for IERAM to the situation prevailing in each country.
• IERAM should be built upon existing institutions, policies and practices with responsibilities for implementing national and regional development programmes clearly defined. Capacity mobilization and strengthening measures need to be pursued in conjunction with and complementary to EIA and similar environmental management capacity building initiatives, and should also make best use of existing networks.
• IERAM needs to be demand driven. In this regard, assessment of the possibilities of integrating IERAM into the PRSP process, disaster prevention and management strategies and HIV/AIDS control programmes.
• Because of the multi-isectoral nature of IERAM, there is need to identify focal point institutions at the country level that have the mandate, passion and capacity to push this initiative forward.
• A network at the regional level needs to be established and made functional. The aim of the network should be to promote IERAM and encourage sharing experiences and should be linked to other regional networks in related issues. Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability (PAES) should house this network on an interim basis and participants of this Regional Consultation have agreed to be the founding members of the network.
• Sustainability of the initiative should be ensured right from the beginning. In this regard, the Regional Consultation underscored the need to broaden the funding and institutional base by involving key national and regional organizations.
• Promoting and developing a common understanding with regard to IERAM would require forging partnerships between NGOs, governments and international development partners and also the private sector should be an integral element of the IERAM capacity building process.
• On the basis of the above recommendations and with the view to operationalizing IERAM, PAES should prepare an action plan in close collaboration with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) of the Republic of Uganda. A first draft of such action plan should be distributed, for comment, to network members by 31 st August and network members should send their comments by 30 th September 2002. The revised action plan should then be submitted to potential funding agencies including the World Bank - Africa Region.
• Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability (PAES) and the World Bank- Africa Region to build upon their productive cooperation to promote integrated environmental risk assessment as a tool for decision making and implement a concrete action plan that would further build IERAM capacity in the context of efforts made to build environmental assessment capacity in Africa both within and outside the Capacity Development and Linkages for Environmental Impact Assessment in Africa (CLEIAA) framework.

PAES. Done in Kampala on 27 June 2002.